Skye Sailing Club attracted 70 people to its annual ‘Push The Boat Out’ open day which was held in Portree last Saturday.

The day was run in conjunction with the Royal Yachting Association as part of 390 events nationwide aimed at anyone interested in getting into a boat and out on the water.

With no experience or equipment necessary, the ‘Push The Boat Out’ day is aimed at complete beginners as well as more experienced sailors looking for a way back into the sport or interested in finding out more about their local club. Families, children, partners, individuals, groups of friends _ everyone is welcome.

Speaking after the open day, Skye Sailing Club Trustee Iain Galbraith told the Free Press: “I think we had around 70 people who went out on to the water during the day – which is fantastic and is a massive improvement on the previous years.

“We had people from all over the island, and a lot of them hadn’t sailed before or had but in the dim and distant past. We are dead keen to see that convert into people take up the courses and people joining the club and getting involved.

He added: “Three-quarters of those were youngsters and the rest were adults or mums and dads. It wasn’t overly windy – just right for beginners – they got a good blast around the bay. It was a fantastic day.”

The Skye Sailing club provides an opportunity for youngsters to progress through four levels of a Royal Yachting Association course which then enables them to move on the instructor course where they can become junior instructors.

“That the means they can take people out on the water around Portree bay”, said Iain. “It gives 16 and 17-year olds the chance to work with people who are learning themselves.”

The club’s membership is approaching 80 members with numbers having been boosted by funding through the Coastal Communities Fund which helped the club the build a new boathouse and purchase dinghies and wet suits.

Skye Sailing Club was named as the Royal Yachting Association Scotland club of the year in 2016 and commended by the RYA in 2017.

Article by Adam Gordon and images by Willie Urquhart

]]>18437War and technology fight it out at Ullapool Book Festivalhttps://www.whfp.com/2019/05/24/war-and-technology-fight-it-out-at-ullapool-book-festival/
Fri, 24 May 2019 13:07:26 +0000https://www.whfp.com/?p=18408The volunteers who make it all happen

Does progress always come at a price? If so, it is an established law that many of the writers at this year’s Ullapool Book Festival felt compelled to explore.

For
Canadian novelist Kathleen Winter, the adoption by the UK in 1752 of the
Gregorian Calender is the device through which her protagonist finds out that
all is not well in the 21st century.

Kathleen Winter

The main
character in Winter’s novel ‘Lost in September’ may or may not be a
reincarnation of General James Wolfe, famous for winning Quebec, and thus
Canada, for the British Empire; and infamous for the brutality of his methods,
sharpened in the aftermath of Culloden and pursued with wanton relish along the
St Lawrence river. The author provides harrowing accounts of how the civilian
population of that time and place was deliberately targeted by the redcoats.

The
significance of the new calendar in all this is that Wednesday 2ndSeptember
1752 was immediately followed by Thursday 14th September, depriving
the real James Wolfe of 11 days of much-needed downtime in Paris. So off he had
to go, back onto the battlefield, his revels cut short. In the novel, his
modern-day incarnation is condemned to repeat this lost furlough as a homeless ex-soldier,
suffering from PTSD and wandering the streets of Montreal. Trapped in a
time-loop, Jimmy/James asks what his fighting and sacrifice actually achieved.

War,
trauma and recovery are explored against the backdrop of a “mercenary and
materialistic north America hurtling towards doomsday.” Not much has changed,
then, since two empires clashed on the Plains of Abraham.

Angus
Peter Campbell often gets lost in cyberspace, usually due to repeated viewings
of Lionel Messi goals. Once upon a time he could just as easily have been ‘glamoured’
by the inhabitants of a fairy knoll.

Angus Peter Campbell

Those two
realms of forgetfulness – one old and supernatural, the other new and
algorithmic – provide the narrative
spark for Saltire-winning novel ‘Memory and Straw’. Both are ways of making
sense of the universe; both, too, have certain rules that dictate our place in
the grand scheme of things.

In ‘Memory
and Straw’, Campbell demonstrates that the realms are not so far apart after
all. The past, that wellspring of cultural and genetic identity that flows
through every one of us, is not dead or even that distant, a fact discovered by
protagonist Gavin McDonell, an artificial intelligence expert from Manhattan
whose ancestry is rooted across the Atlantic, where they were known (of course)
by the more familiar patronymic of Macdonald.

We can get
lost in fairy land, cyberspace – or even, as Campbell memorably put it, in the
Pollochar Inn – but if we choose to pay attention, the past is always close at
hand, exerting its influence on us. To be human is to tell stories, to hand down
a psychosocial thread of meaning. This is something artificial intelligence will
only ever mimic, at best. ‘Memory and Straw’ is a warning that commercialising
such ingenuity dehumanises those it professes to serve.

Technology
also carried a threat for journalists Neil Mackay and David Pratt. Both agreed
that social media and the internet are driving a coach and horses through the
business model that has traditionally underpinned the world of journalism. But
both were hopeful that a new way would emerge from the ashes of the old. Call
it progress, if you like.

Neil Mackay

“The
entire world is going through a great disruption, but all the pillars of
society will come out the other side, whether they are journalists or taxi
drivers,” said Mackay.

Pratt – who
has to pay his own way to every warzone he reports from – said the new business
model should rely on subscriptions, not advertising revenue.

David Pratt

During
this session, a certain recent column in the ‘Herald on Sunday’ was also
discussed.

Mackay,
its author, said his piece on the damage done to the cause of independence by
so-called cybernats was intended as “friendly criticism” of the Yes movement;
Pratt observed that the column’s “timing was unfortunate”, coming as it did the
day after the All Under One Banner march through Glasgow. He reckoned it had
“undoubtedly been damaging”.

Mackay
said the reaction on social media proved his point: such “manic anger” does not
foster healthy debate. And healthy debate is exactly what is required, he said,
if sufficient numbers of Unionists are to be attracted to the Yes camp in time
for IndyRef 2.

Whenever
the next vote takes place, the pro-independence movement might struggle for
recruits in the Shetland Islands.

With their own distinct cultural identity, our friends in the north are used to hearing how remote they are from the Central Belt. Malachy Tallack, who has lived in Shetland since the age of 10, has a problem with the word ‘remote’. That being so, he named his novel ‘The Valley at the Centre of the World’ as a riposte to those who use the word without considering its implications.

Malachy Tallack

“The title
of the book was partly a provocation,” he said. “We are told that Shetland is
far away from power and politics and from everything that is important. But everywhere
is its own centre and every community has a sense of itself. To call a place
remote is to dismiss it, to define it against somewhere else.”

Tallack’s
fictional valley is vulnerable. Its ways are being undermined by the onslaught
of commerce and technology. Call it progress, if you like. But, as many an old
crofter will tell you, the old ways are worth passing on to others, even now.

Robert Alan Jamieson

Definitions, toponymically speaking at least, are everything for Robert Alan Jamieson, a Shetlander from birth who shared the stage with Tallack. His novel ‘macCloud Falls’ (correct spelling) is set in Canada, in British Columbia, and the title, as arranged on the book’s front cover, suggests an uneasy relationship between its three syllabic elements. This is mirrored in BC itself, which Jamieson has visited four times. Scottish and English settlers, First Nations’ inhabitants, modern Canadians: colonised and colonisers co-exist, their respective narratives either coming together or remaining stubbornly other. The result, said Jamieson, is a “fraught and troubled” land where place-names are overwritten, languages lost, and where identity is multi-layered and often fractured. It’s a familiar story.

Such is life. Such is progress.

******************************

Estonia and Ullapool forge book festival links

Last year author James Robertson, who has been a guest
at both Ullapool Book Festival and HeadRead Literary Festival in Tallinn, said
that, having experienced both festivals, he thought they had much in common.

Although Tallinn is much bigger than Ullapool, he said
both festivals have a shared ethos and commitment to good writing and to
readers, and they both treat visiting authors extremely well.

So began an email conversation between Ullapool Book Festival chair Joan Michael and Krista Kaer, director of HeadRead Literary Festival, resulting in Krista coming to Ullapool for the festival earlier this month. The British Council generously funded this visit.

Krista Kaer and Joan Michael enjoyed meeting for the first time in Ullapool

The hope was that it might result in some development
of cultural links between the north-west Highlands and the western Baltic. And
that is exactly what happened. A new cultural alliance was established with
Estonia – a ‘’twinning’ arrangement with HeadRead. Ullapool Book Festival chair
Joan Michael has been invited to the festival in Tallinn at the end of May next
year. One of Ullapool’s guests this year, Shetland poet Roseanne Watt ,who was
winner of the Edwin Morgan Poetry Prize last year, has been invited by Krista
Kaer to read at HeadRead next year. And an Estonian poet will be at Ullapool in
2020, between 8th and 10th May.

Poet Roseanne Watt will head out to Estonia next year

Joan Michael said: “We feel that it is really
important that cultural and other links are retained with Europe. We are
delighted with the link we now have with Estonia and look forward to it
flourishing over the years. We already have a well-established tradition of
bringing Canadian authors to Ullapool and we have also invited writers from
Guatemala, Catalonia, Palestine and Germany. We are a Highland festival with an
international outlook.”

]]>18408Uist coffee connoisseurs look to make fresh starthttps://www.whfp.com/2019/05/24/uist-coffee-connoisseurs-look-to-make-fresh-start/
Fri, 24 May 2019 09:01:04 +0000https://www.whfp.com/?p=18404Skydancer – which will be run by husband and wife team Michael and Sarah Faint – is scheduled to open at the end of next month.

The first speciality coffee roasters in the Western Isles will soon open their doors in Lochboisdale.

Skydancer is the brainchild of husband and wife team Michael and Sarah Faint. Their business will share space with An Solas Mór Photography which produces fine art abstracts that interpret the beauty of the islands. After their respective careers in psychology and logistics throughout the UK, Sarah and Michael are bringing the concept of fresh, high-quality coffee to the residents, businesses, and visitors of the Western Isles.

Sarah said: “Why Skydancer? Hen harriers thrive in the Outer Hebrides, especially in the Uists. In the spring the males perform magnificent aerial displays that are called ‘skydancing’. In honour of the amazing spectacle, we have named the roastery after the Hen Harriers and in the future, we will pledge a percentage of profits to their conservation and to nominated local causes.”

The couple maintain that not a lot of people realise that the coffee they drink is stale.

“It has been hanging around on supermarket shelves for many months in supposedly fresh, nitrogen packed, bags,” added Michael. “Coffee comes from the pit inside a fruit called a cherry and once it is roasted it is best consumed as fresh as possible. We will, therefore, be able to offer the freshest beans which will reflect in the quality of taste and mouthfeel. Additionally, it is our policy to steer clear of single-use plastic wherever we can which will be reflected in the types of packaging we will use.”

Skydancer will offer different roast profiles from light to dark and offer bespoke blends to businesses. They will roast on particular days which will be advertised so visitors can see the roaster in action.

“We will grind daily using a burr grinder rather than a blade,” said Sarah. ” Burr grinders actually grind down the coffee bean whereas blade grinders literally smash the bean – diminishing flavour. We will offer an extra coarse grind to extra fine depending on the requirements. We can be contacted via phone, email, website and social media to take orders. Long term we plan to expand and offer employment opportunities to local young people thus encouraging them to stay on the islands.”

Food and cups of coffee will also be available to visitors and residents alike on site and door to door delivery will also be available. Coffee making equipment such as cafetieres/French presses will be on sale from the roastery alongside V60 dripper sets and filters so that people can make coffee at home.

Skydancer is scheduled to open at the end of next month.

]]>18404Australian man latest to fall victim of Aultbea Hotel’s sudden closurehttps://www.whfp.com/2019/05/23/australian-man-latest-to-fall-victim-of-aultbea-hotels-sudden-closure/
Thu, 23 May 2019 14:29:33 +0000https://www.whfp.com/?p=18391The Autlbea Hotel has been closed since mid-April 2019. According to a former employee it was done so at the behest of owner Michael David Chalom. Several bookings have not been fulfilled since then despite the hotel having allegedly received pre-payments.

An Australian man who was scheduled to stay at the Aultbea Hotel this summer has said he is both “annoyed and disappointed” after discovering that the hotel was closed having already paid a deposit of £150 for his trip.

Mr Gary Haines from Sydney, Australia contacted the Free Press earlier this week for clarity over Aultbea Hotel after reading an article via the Free Press website. In his email, Mr Haines said he had a booking for two nights in June and had paid a one-night deposit of £150 and asked: “can you confirm for me the hotel is closed as I will have to make another accommodation booking?”

After informing Mr Haines that the hotel was indeed closed and had been since mid-April, he added: “We booked for two nights in September 2018, having stayed there previously.

“We paid a deposit and received a receipt/invoice so no concerns. I checked the website to see if they had updated menus and other information only to find out about the closure.

“I am very annoyed and disappointed that the owners just closed up without any contact or consideration for people who have a booking and paid money. What have they done with our money?”

Mr Haines is the third person to contact the Free Press about a pre-paid, unfulfilled booking at the Aultbea Hotel since its closure just over a month ago. Back in April, a former employee of the hotel spoke to the Free Pressand claimed that they had come into work as normal for the breakfast shift on Wednesday 10th April only to find out via a telephone call from the owner David Michael Chalom that he had left and the hotel would be closing.

Gary Haines was due to travel from Sydney to stay in the Aultbea Hotel this summer but has been left £150 out of pocket due to the closure of the hotel.

In May we have also reported on the experiences of Perthshire cycling company owner Scot Tares, who has been left £300 out of pocket having booked three rooms for an overnight stay for a small cycling group. While New Mexico aerospace engineer Walter Rutledge and his wife Karen, are seeking a refund for adeposit of £120 after discovering their booking would not be honoured on the same day they were due to stay at the hotel.

The Aultbea Hotel is registered under the company View Hotels Limited and has two directors listed as David Michael Chalom and Valerie Fabienne Kuncze, who were both appointed on 27th July 2017 and recorded as having France as their country of residence.

The website also states the View Hotels Limited latest accounts are overdue having exceeded the deadline of 27th April 2019. The company also has two outstanding charges entitled to Barclays Bank PLC which were delivered on December 2017 and January 2018.

The Visit Wester Ross website has provided information for anyone who has booked or was planning to stay at the Aultbea Hotel – including the number of the Gairloch Hotel – 01445 712001 – which has said that they will provide accommodation if possible, and the Gale Centre – 01445 712071.

Commenting to the Free Press earlier this week, Gairloch Hotel Manager, Thomas Sutherland said: ” Upon learning of the unfortunate circumstances at the neighbouring Aultbea Hotel, my team have worked hard to offer accommodation to as many stranded guests as possible.

“Many guests had arrived in the area with no knowledge of the closure, some even arriving from overseas. We were pleased to support them and offer replacement accommodation where possible.”

As we went to press, the Aultbea Hotel’s website had at least half a dozen comments from guests who had lodged complaints about unfulfilled bookings, while on the Trip Advisor website there were three such complaints.

The Free Press has previously tried to contact the Aultbea Hotel by telephone and email but have yet to receive a response.

Police Scotland say they have not received any reports concerning these matters.

If you have been affected by the closure of the hotel, whether as a former employee, a guest who had booked with the hotel, or in any other way, and would like to share your experience, please contact our reporter Adam Gordon – adam.gordon@whfp.com

Article by Adam Gordon

]]>18391Isle of Skye tops Instagram list of Europe’s most popular road tripshttps://www.whfp.com/2019/05/22/isle-of-skye-tops-instagram-list-of-europes-most-popular-road-trips/
Wed, 22 May 2019 14:58:11 +0000https://www.whfp.com/?p=18378The Storr – as featured many times on Instagram

The Isle of Skye’s soaring popularity as a must-see destination has been highlighted by new research showing the island as one of the most popular hashtags on social media site Instagram.

Analysis of some 47 million social media posts
was carried out to uncover the world’s road trip habits and most-favoured
travel destinations.

Skye was found to be the most Instagrammed
road trip destination in Europe, with almost 21,000 posts, looking at
destinations used with the hashtag #roadtrip. The island was ahead of the Eiffel
Tower, which had only 12,463 posts in comparison.

Scotland has proven popular with road
trippers overall with #glencoe and #lochness also appearing in the top ten of
#roadtrip posts, in fourth and eighth place respectively.

Hashtags #fairypools #oldmanofstorr #portree
and #eileandonancastle also feature among the top 50 words associated with roadtrips
in the 10 most popular European countries.

According to the data the North Coast 500
is the eighth most popular road trip route in Europe.

Eilean Donan is also extremely popular on the social media photosharing website

The list of road trip hotspots was compiled
for car hire company Europcar by analysing over 47 million social media posts
from across Instagram between 2016 and 2017.

The data has been put into a new road trip guide which highlights the main points of interests and sights that can be found along the world’s best road trip routes, and the guide is illustrated throughout with real Instagram images so that visitors can take inspiration and craft their own adventures.

]]>18378West Highland Free Press Audio Files – Friday 17th May 2019https://www.whfp.com/2019/05/20/west-highland-free-press-audio-files-friday-17th-may-2019/
Mon, 20 May 2019 11:17:13 +0000https://www.whfp.com/?p=18373Every week, Skye & Lochalsh Council for Voluntary Organisations http://www.slcvo.org.uk/ produces an abridged audio version of the West Highland Free Press. This fantastic service, made possible by local volunteers, allows those in our community with visual impairment to enjoy the newspaper in audio format.

We upload this version to our website to allow wider community access to this volunteer service.

We’d also encourage you to pay a visit to the SLCVO website to get a flavour of the vital work they do, and if you can support them in any way, please do.

The abridged audio version (a series of 29MP3 files) of the West Highland Free Press dated 17th May 2019 is below:

Over 100
people took part in the Rag Tag n Textile Skye Bridge walk last weekend, held
as part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival.

With this year’s festival theme of ‘connected’ Rag Tag workshop co-ordinator Sarah Berry said it seemed fitting to connect the mainland to Skye with a walk.

At the
start of the walk the Lochalsh and Kyle Development Trust provided cordials –
made with local gorse, nettles, rhubarb and ginger – to all the participants at
the gathering point at Kyle bandstand.

After the
walk, local artists Sarah Longley and Vicky Stonebridge were on hand in
Kyleakin hall to take sketching and clay tile workshops, the end results of
which will feature in the ‘Connected’ exhibition due to be held in the Aros
Centre in Portree next month.

Representatives
from several mental health organisations came over from the Inverness area for
the day: Creativity in Care, Befrienders Highland, Hug (Action for Mental
health), Bug (Bikeshed Users Group) in Merkinch and Mikey’s Line. Café Chat
provided the kitchen services in the hall and Kyleakin Connections provided
soup. Fifteen stalls from craft-makes from all over the Highlands were also in
the hall.

Sarah
added: “This was a very sociable event. Everyone was in such a good mood
because the weather was fantastic.”

]]>18333Find a flag for Skye – West Highland Free Press sparks campaign to create new symbol for the islandhttps://www.whfp.com/2019/05/16/find-a-flag-for-skye-west-highland-free-press-sparks-campaign-to-create-new-symbol-for-the-island/
Thu, 16 May 2019 13:11:01 +0000https://www.whfp.com/?p=18307Skye could follow other islands in creating a new flag. Picture, @goodstockphotos

Plans to create an official Isle of Skye flag are being hatched, with the area keen to follow the example of neighbouring islands in adopting a collective and easily identifiable symbol.

The West Highland Free Press is joining the campaign alongside local Highland councillors and Skye Connect, the official destination management organisation for the island.

Several islands have created official flags
as a publicly available symbol which could help raise recognition and awareness
of their area nation-wide.

The proposals for a Skye flag will be discussed
this Friday at the council’s Skye and Raasay area ward business meeting in
Portree.

The first step in creating a new flag would
require an area representative group to petition the office of the Lord Lyon, which
is the body responsible for recording and protecting all heraldry, flags and
national symbols in Scotland.

Should the plans find favour, a steering
group would be set up and a competition – which the Free Press could help run –
launched in a bid to narrow down a shortlist of potential winning designs.

Early discussions have suggested the
competition would pay a particular focus on local schools, and a public poll would
be held to decide the eventual winner.

Similar exercises have been held to find
flags in other parts of Scotland in recent years. The islands of Barra, South
Uist, Tiree, Shetland and Orkney all have their own flags, while so too has the
mainland areas of Caithness and Sutherland.

A competition got underway last week to
find flags to represent Eriskay, Benbecula and North Uist.

Philip Tibbetts, honorary vexillologist
with the Court of the Lord Lyon, told the Free Press he would be happy to come
to Skye and help explain the process in more depth.

He said a flag would “express pride in the
local community and celebrate the island’s heritage and culture.”

Skye councillor John Finlayson said: “I have been thinking for some time about the need for Skye to have its own flag and I have had preliminary discussions with other ward members about this. Recent discussions with the communities vexillologist, Skye Connect and the WHFP have also confirmed an appetite for moving this forward, and the importance of involving young people in any plans.

“Initial discussions will take place at a ward business meeting and I am excited about moving this project forward with the help of the different stakeholders mentioned.”

Following an overwhelming response, including a £10,000 donation from Eilean Donan Castle and its owner the Conchra Charitable Trust, a fundraising drive has moved up a gear for Lochalsh Leisure Centre.

The initial campaign to raise £13,500 has now been increased
to the ambitious target of £85,000. In April, salmon farming company Mowi
Scotland donated £13,500 and launched the campaign to find the remaining £13,500
needed to replace the roof of the pool area.

The launch was quickly followed by a £10,000 donation from
Eilean Donan Castle and its owner, Conchra Charitable Trust. A JustGiving page
has also received more than £2,200.

The target of £85,000 would fund extensive repair work to
the leisure centre building, including reroofing the entire building, improving
access inside and out for patrons with mobility issues, a fire suppressant
systems upgrade, electrical works, repainting the outside of the building and
redecoration inside.

Commenting on the campaign, David Win from Eilean Donan
Castle said: “Conchra Charitable Trust and everyone at Eilean Donan Castle are
truly delighted to be able to support this important fundraising initiative.
Community resources are absolutely vital in our area, so it’s great to be able
to help a facility that is used by so many locals, their families, as well as
visitors to the region. We encourage everyone who has utilised Lochalsh Leisure
in the past to get behind this campaign.”

Charlene Maguire, Lochalsh Leisure Centre manager, added:
“Having almost reached the initial target so quickly, we were encouraged to
increase it to allow us to carry out the many other repairs and improvements
needed at Lochalsh Leisure Centre.

“The leisure centre provides affordable facilities to its
members and visitors and is used by 100 people a day. As a self-financing
charity that’s wholly funded by the community and membership fees, we need
outside help to cover the large expenditure needed for extensive repairs and
improvements.

“I’d like to thank Eilean Donan Castle and the Conchra
Charitable Trust and everyone that has donated so far. The generosity of the
local community and businesses will help us secure the future of an important
community facility.”

As part of the fundraising drive, staff at Lochalsh Leisure
Centre are also undertaking the challenge to complete 1,834 miles in the month
of May by running, cycling or swimming. The distance is equal to the distance
between the leisure centre and Mowi’s headquarters in Norway and will involve
the eight members of staff completing 7.4 miles per day.

]]>18263Ceremony kick-starts plans for Trotternish Centrehttps://www.whfp.com/2019/05/10/18252/
Fri, 10 May 2019 10:15:00 +0000https://www.whfp.com/?p=18252Members of the community and Flodigarry Township Trust look on as local MSP Kate Forbes cuts the first turf at a ceremony held last Saturday.

Last Saturday a special ceremony was held in a bid to kick-start the plans for Ionad Thròndairnis (the Trotternish Centre) – unique multi-function arts and educational centre to welcome the many hundreds of thousands of visitors who travel to this part of the island annually.

Local MSP Kate Forbes cut the first turf on the site of the proposed centre in Flodigarry.

Over the last decade the community, through the work of Urras Baile Fhlòdaigearraidh – Flodigarry Township Trust – has been drawing up plans for Ionad Thròndairnis.

The centre is conceived as a multi-purpose venue for hosting concerts, ceilidhs and other cultural and social events. Importantly, it will be an educational resource for the development of the Gaelic courses that the community has been running in partnership with Scotland’s national Gaelic college, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig

In addition to providing space for the interpretation of the history, geology and wildlife of the Trotternish peninsula, the centre’s primary role will be as a social hub where members of the community can meet with each other and welcome all the visitors who come to experience the splendour of the peninsula.

The trust say Ionad Thròndairnis will be designed with bold and innovative architecture to harmonise with the unique and sensitive location, making it the perfect site for access to the Trotternish ridge – one of the most recognisable and awe-inspiring landscapes in the United Kingdom.

It is hoped the centre will provide increased local employment and business opportunities and will offer a significant contribution to the protection of the environment by improving road safety. Much-needed accommodation units will be developed in tandem with the centre, to the same high design specifications.

Margaret Nicolson chair of Urras Baile Fhlòdaigearraidh, said: “We are delighted that this long-awaited day has come and hope that our efforts as an aspirational community will inspire other rural communities across Scotland.

“However, it is really just the first milestone in what will be a major task for the Trotternish community to realise the ambitions for this centre, in what is surely one of the most iconic landscapes of the British Isles.”

Kate Forbes said: “It is a pleasure to officially cut the turf on the new Flodigarry centre.

“This has been a long time coming and would not have been possible without the sheer grit and determination of local champions.

“It is so important that we have places in the heart of Gaelic communities that celebrate, safeguard and promote living Gaelic culture and I hope this centre will do this.”